American Dialect Society

The American Dialect Society (ADS), founded in 1889, is a learned society "dedicated to the study of the English language in North America, and of other languages, or dialects of other languages, influencing it or influenced by it." The Society publishes the academic journal ''American Speech''.

Since its foundation, dialectologists in English-speaking North America have affiliated themselves with the American Dialect Society, an association which in its first constitution defined its objective as "the investigation of the spoken English of the United States and Canada" (Constitution, 1890). Over the years, its objective has remained essentially the same, only expanded to encompass "the English language in North America, together with other languages or dialects of other languages influencing it or influenced by it" (Fundamentals, 1991).

History

The organization was founded as part of an effort to create a comprehensive American dialect dictionary, a near century-long undertaking that culminated in the publication of the '' Dictionary of American Regional English''. In 1889, when Joseph Wright began editing the '' English Dialect Dictionary'', a group of American philologists founded the American Dialect Society with the ultimate purpose of producing a similar work for the United States.

Members of the Society began to collect material, much of which was published in the Society's journal ''Dialect Notes'', but little was done toward compiling a dictionary recording nationwide usage until Frederic G. Cassidy was appointed Chief Editor in 1963. The first volume of the ''Dictionary of American Regional English'', covering the letters A-C, was published in 1985. The other major project of the Society is the Linguistic Atlas of the United States and Canada.

Membership

The Society has never had more than a few hundred active members. With so few scholars advancing the enterprise, the developments in the field came slowly. Members of the organization include "linguists, lexicographers, etymologists, grammarians, historians, researchers, writers, authors, editors, professors, university students, and independent scholars." Its activities include a mailing list, which deals chiefly with American English but also carries some discussion of other issues of linguistic interest.

Word of the Year

Since 1991, the American Dialect Society has designated one or more words or terms to be the ''word of the year''. ''The New York Times'' stated that the American Dialect Society "probably started" the "word-of-the-year ritual". However, the "Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache" (GfdS) has announced a word of the year since 1977.

Special votes that they've made:
* Word of the 1990s: '' web''
* Word of the 20th Century: ''jazz''
* Word of the Past Millennium: '' she''
* Word of the Decade (2000-2009): '' google'' (as a verb)2009 Word of the Year is “tweet”; Word of the Decade is “google”
– American Dialect Society. Published 8 January 2010. Retrieved 31 Mar 2019.
* Word of the Decade (2010-2019): ''they''2019 Word of the Year is “(My) Pronouns,” Word of the Decade is Singular “They”
– American Dialect Society. Published 3 January 2020. Retrieved 28 Mar 2019.

The society also selects words in other categories that vary from year to year, such as "most original" or "most unnecessary" (or "most outrageous") and "most likely to succeed" (see: Word of the year).

A number of words chosen by the ADS are also on the lists of Merriam-Webster's Words of the Year.

List of Words of the Year

See also

* American English
* Language planning
* Language Report from Oxford University Press
* Lists of Merriam-Webster's Words of the Year
* Neologism
* Word formation

References

Further reading

*
*
*
*
*

External links

*
*
American Dialect Society
information page at Duke University Press

Publication of the American Dialect Society
archive articles at Duke University Press
American Dialect Society
information page at American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS)
American Dialect Society
news page at Dictionary Society of North America
American Dialect Society Collection
at Library of Congress
American Dialect Society
publications listed with timeline at WorldCat, from participation in the Online Computer Library Center
Creator: American Dialect Society
at website of Internet Archive

{{Authority control

Linguistic societies
1889 establishments in the United States
Lexicology
American English
History of education in the United States
Learned societies of the United States